More Like 2 and a Half Stars

First off, I really like Michael Mann. He has a great visual eye and when the action comes around, he always does something different and intense. That is true for this movie as well, only there is so little action it almost bores you to sleep. For me the problem was the whole middle of the film w/Colin and Li; It's almost like a whole different movie....I liked the set up in the beginning; I have the patience to allow a story to unfold, don't get me wrong...but this movie had no business being this long. Both Foxx and Farrell are actually perfect for their parts, and I found the performances enjoyable. Loved the sniper rifle scene near the start, the trailer scene and shootout near the end; The cinematography, as expected, captures alot of great images and skyscapes; The boat scene at the beginning is very impressive...but in the end I can make this into a really solid 1 hour and twenty minute movie w/the help of my fast forward button...I suggest you do the same.

Lame but pretty

I have loved all of Michael Mann's other movies - from Manhunter to Collateral, but this one is a dud. It's melodramatic, poorly-acted and plodding, with all sorts of preposterous flourishes that make suspension of disbelief a real chore.

For instance: Gong Li's character is supposed to be a second-generation Chinese-Cuban whose mother went with Che to fight in Angola...etc...but that's about all I could understood, since she speaks with such a thick Chinese accent. Exactly what this exotic biography adds to story (except 30 mins of screen time) is unclear to me -maybe I am missing something there- but it seems obvious that no second-generation Cuban citizen would still sound Chinese.

The whole movie is like that - which is frustrating, because it could have been SO GOOD with just an ounce of realism. But rather than include all of those interesting details of drug policing that made the original series gritty, Mann opts for a James Bond-style multinational espionage fantasy. And with the tone of the film, this just doesn't work. Filmed almost entirely in blue, and scored with dark alternative music, Miami Vice isn't just moody, it's downright depressive.

Of course, it is very, very pretty. As always, Mann's cinematography is above perfect. Every frame could be a postcard. But that's just not enough to save this dog.

Pretty solid for what it is...

First off, I have some complaints about the film but not ones that are so much detractions so much as ones that stop it from being truly great. The story moves at perhaps too fast a pace at times and there does come a point where you realize that little details don't matter because you know where the film's going anyways generally which doesn't help when the camera is trying to insist on suspense. This doesn't detract too much from the film but I might have preferred a little less sustained immediacy and a little more breathing space because it hit a point in places where, rather than making it more exciting it instead cheapened some lead-in scenes because it felt they might have been pushing it a little too much. Mann could have afforded to maybe slow down a bit here and there.

Other than that, the characters are pretty well portrayed archetypes and so accusations of their lacking development probably aren't well founded with regards to the director's intentions. What Mann sought to do rather than providing us with in-depth character details was to provide us with well-defined character relationships instead. So perhaps we don't glean any major insight into the kinds of things that shaped them to the point where the film starts, what we do have though is a definite impression that Rico and Sonny know and trust each other in a very profound way and that was what the whole film was about anyway. They are professional but part of that involves treading a fine line between upholding the law and tasting the glamor and excitement of crime.

However though, it might have been nicer to let the relationship between Isabella and Sonny breathe a little more and also to dwell a little more on the two protagonist's relationships with others outside of their own little gang of two. The notions of the loneliness of an undercover cop are slightly undermined by the lack of peripheral characters. It's hard to tell how much Rico misses his girl when she's hardly on the screen to begin with although the ending scenes do help this notion a lot but it might be a slight case of too little too late. Again though, not bad so much as perhaps not being the absolute best.

Still though, as I said, lack of character depth and dynamic development probably wasn't what Mann was aiming for anyway and so it's not so much a detraction for me so much as a failure to elevate the film to really high ground. But perhaps Mann took the right option here because, well, there's nothing more risible than a film that aims high and misses. Mann kept things fairly straightforward and to the point and so, while he mightn't have created a film with quite as many layers as Heat, he still made a thriller that is as solid as any I've seen over the last few years. What Mann might have demonstrated best within the film is how not to overextend your means.

So all in all, not an exemplary film, no, but it is well shaped for it's intentions and directed with a very firm hand. I think most people who seem to deeply dislike this film don't hate the film so much as hate the fact that it wasn't the film they apparently wanted. I don't think this is the best platform for building criticism but, whatever. Opinions are like a-holes after all, everyone's got one.